716 



THE 



AGRICULTURAL 



. 



GAZETTE. 



[Oct. 27, 1855. 



i 



do. for mains. — The average number ot" acres dis- 

 charging at the several outlets is about 10. — The soil 

 and subsoil verv variable. — The geological formation is 

 Northumberland coal formation. — The mean height of 

 the land drained above the sea level is 500 feet. From 



Sir TT. C. Trevdyan, BarL, Wallington, Northum- 

 berland. 



XL VI 1 1. — The result of drainage operations on all 

 descriptions of land has been satisfactory. — The drainage 

 is parallel. — The prevailing depth of the drains is 

 4 feet ; main drains, 5 feet. — I have made no difference 

 in the mode of draining between arable and Grass land. 

 — The direction of the minor drains is with the fall ; 

 where the furrows have been very much curved I have 

 drained across them, but generally I have kept in the 

 furrow. — I have used 2-inch pipes and 5-inch pipes ; no 

 -collars. — The soil and subsoil are a sandy clay, over the 

 coal measures. — The height above the sea is consider- 

 able, but the land here grows good Wheat, which it 

 ceases to do a little higher. Major W. Cadogan, 

 Brinkburn Priory. 



Home Correspondence. 



Perennial Pea. — IJobserved in a late Number some 

 Inquiries as to the value of the Perennial Pea for cattle 

 food, and remember that I asked you the same question 

 some years ago. I should be glad of your opinion as to 

 -another plant, the blue Lupin ; being perennial, very 

 ■early, and producing much seed, and growing luxuriantly 

 in poor borders of the garden, I conceive it would 

 answer both as green food and for seed. I have seen 

 in Italy large fields of the white Lupin used as fodder, 

 and the seed would surely give oil (a high priced article 

 at present) and cake might be made from the refuse. 

 Would not the Horse Chesnuts also be available for oil 

 and cake \ In Germany they are bruised and given to 

 sheep. In this country they appear to be quite neg- 

 lected, although the deer eat them. I cannot help 

 •thinking that the Jerusalem Artichoke is also under- 

 valued. It produces abundantly without trouble or 

 .manure, and contains more sugar than Potatoes, and 

 more nourishment, and the numerous stalks might be 

 oised as thatch, &c, and perhaps for paper. W. B., of 



greased rope. A very large air vessel is indispensable, 

 not less (for such pumps as mine) than the size of a 20- 

 gallon cask. I have three in immediate connection with 

 the pumps. If you are deficient in air vessel you will 

 break your machinery, and you must have in addition 

 escape valves dose to the pumps; otherwise when there 

 is a stoppage on the fields you will break your 

 machinery by hydraulic pressure. If your pump 

 I barrels are too large in proportion to your subterranean 

 pipes, you will come to a dead lock, break machinery, 

 or waste power. There is a proper proportion and 

 velocity that cannot be violated with impunity. Again, 

 long lengths of small gutta percha tubing impede the 

 transmission of fluids. I never use now smaller tubing 

 than 2-inch, and this is inflexible unlessyou insert at inter- 

 vals corrugated joints. The jet alone causes much 

 resistance, and if taken off the engine at once increases 

 its speed. Mr. Teller uses no jet, and gets no fountain. 

 This may answer well on his sandy soil, but on our hard 

 and cracking clay such a system does not answer for 

 obvious reasons. Of course in standing crops of roots, 

 &c, a fountain or shower of at least 40 to 50 feet is 

 imperative. Working a double set of 1^-inch hose with 

 two jets greatly eases the engine. My two pumps are 

 of 20-inch stroke, 5 \ inches diameter, and make from 

 20 to 30 strokes per minute, discharging from 70 to 

 100 gallons per minute. J. J. Mechi. 



Wool. — I have been much pleased by reading a paper 

 in the Royal Agricultural Journal on wool by Prof. 

 Wilson, and have drawn up from it the accompanying 

 table ; the weight of fleece, however, of the South and 

 Hampshire Down is not in the essay — perhaps you can 

 supply the omission. A.H. F. C. 



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Mangold Wurzel as Food for Pigs.— Some short time 



since I noticed in your Gazette inquiries on this subject. 



I have much pleasure in adding my testimony to their 



.good qualities as pig food during the late spring and 



summer months. I have this summer fed six pigs 



almost entirely on Mangold Wurzel, and they have 



done remarkably well. I last Thursday (Sept. 27) 



exhibited some roots at our horticultural show, the 



growth of 1844, perfectly hard and sound. I fed the 



>?>ig» up to the middle of August with them. Orange 



^Jeily Turnips sown in April or early in May will then 



.<come in. Your correspondent should grate these with 



Bushe's Turnip grater ; let them ferment in a tub two 



♦or three days, and he will find his pigs thrive well and 



cheaply, especially if he mixes meal or bran with the 



fermented Turnips. The Turnips when fermented are 



^uite hot and a perfect pulp ; Bushe's Turnip grater 



is an invaluable addition to the farmer's implements. 



Cattle will thrive on anything in the shape of cut chaff 



if mixed with fermented Turnips— no small object with 



such a hay season as the last ! S. P., Machynlleth. 



Irrigation. — My irrigation being now perfect, without 

 -check or hindrance of any kind, I consider it an agri- 

 cultural duty to allude to the difficulties, and show how 

 Xhey have been overcome. Smell from the tank: 

 Although domed over with trap doors, the effluvia was 

 inconvenient at 100 yards distant. The introduction of 

 a jet of waste steam cooks the smell as it rises. The 

 steam must be introduced above the liquid, not into it. 

 Steam is a wonderful purifier. A constant jet of air 

 pumped through a gutta percha tube into the liquid, 

 causes a constant boiling up of the solid and liquid, so 



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tube is generally near to the suction bulb, thus counter- 



From R. A. Journal, Vol. 16, p. 222, <bc. 



Produce of Wheat. — The fine autumn weather we 

 have had lately has enabled the small farmers on the 

 high lands adjoining the moors to secure their corn as 

 sound as their brother agriculturists had done in the 

 more favoured districts, and harvest may now be fairly 

 said to be ended. I stated long ago in your columns 

 that I was satisfied the yield of Wheat on most lands 

 would be short, and the sample inferior. The new 

 Wheat brought to market has fully borne out this 

 opinion, but I am sincerely glad to have to add that the 

 whole crop may be considered as perfectly sound, and 



„„*• „ t u^ *^«^.™. * ,.j£ > , . . „ this is a very great advantage, especially to the poor 



acting the tendency to solidification around the bulb iu * i_"r- jut 



u .l- ? w ^„ij ^♦uilLs * i , 7nv - ' i who have to consume the inferior corn: and had 



which would otherwise take place. The suction pipe 



And the air pipe must all be of gutta percha, so as to be 



easily pulled up, shaken or examined. I began with 



iron pipes in the tank, but found them useless because 



they could not be lifted or examined. The bulb at the 



end of the suction pipe should be at least 3 feet long 

 -and 2 feet diameter, with about 200 holes of 1 inch 

 diameter, so as to admit a gradual easy entrance for the 

 manure. On the top of the tank you will have a winch 

 -or well rope attached to the suction bulb. An occa- 

 sional shake or examination of the bulb will be useful. 

 This may be done without stopping the pumps. If you 

 ■iiave much solid matter in the tank, and only use it 

 occasionally, the liquid will become sufficiently dense to 

 -float the whole mass several feet thick. In order to 

 intermix and distribute this mass, a jet from the pumps 

 ■■wUl cut it to pieces and mix it with the fluid. A weighty 

 collar should be placed round the nozzle of the air pipe 

 to -keep it down m the liquid. So much for the tank. 



\n r e i bef ° re 8tated thafc U is of 30 feet diameter and 

 JO feet deep to the top of the dome— circular of course. 



Ihe part in the ground is of 44-inch brickwork, the 



-dome of .9-mch work. The cost about 80Z.; when drawn 



down it drains the adjoining soil in wet weather. Pump 



valves : iSothing w ju pl»g Ue 



. » - - y° u 8° much as these if 



jrpu neglect to keep them perfectly true and level on 



their seats. It is absolutely necessary to have spare 



^ V ! 8, - and haire . 1 I 1, * m tur . ue . d tr** every now and then, 



Of course 

 P 



.-.two, « U v« «*«tc uu<;ui fttuuvu *rue every nc 

 otherwise you will draw air instead of liquid 

 jour plunger barrels must be carefull v 1 



the harvest proved unsound, and prices high as at 

 present, they would no doubt have eaten much that 

 unfit for human food. I have threshed two lots of new 

 Wheat ; the first grew on 16 acres of strong clay land. 

 There were on the whole lb* acres 7780 sheaves, or 648 

 stooks of 12 sheaves each. The result was— marketable 

 corn, 270 bushels ; part of the crop where lodged and 

 kept separate, being inferior corn, 42 ; backends or tail 

 corn, 39 ; total, 351 bushels, or nearly 22 bushels per 

 acre. The second lot was grown on 6 acres, and it had 

 3.933 sheaves or 327-fc stooks of 12 sheaves. It gave 1 79 

 bushels, and the backends or tail corn were very little 

 inferior to the best corn. This field had therefore very 

 nearly 30 bushels per acre ; it was a beautiful crop, 

 most of it standing, and in good years would have 

 certainly yielded 40 bushels per acre. The Wheat in 

 botli these lots was red, straw white, and in the first 

 quantity the good corn weighed 61 lbs., and in the second 

 62 lbs. per bushel. I have recently been over a great 

 deal of land in Yorkshire nnd the midland counties, and 

 although there is here and there a splendid field of Tur- 

 nips to be seen, I do not consider on ihe whole that we 

 have more than half au ordinary crop of Turnips in 

 these counties. Rualdus. 



Farmers' Clubs, 



Witham The ploughing match took place on the 



farm of Mr. Wm. Hut ley, and a more thau local 

 refully packed with i interest was imparted to the competition by the offer of j (Hear and applause.) 



j a prize of 51, by Mr. Ben tall, hWounder, of HeybridS" 

 1 open to the ploughmen of Essex. There were 4s 

 competitors. It was awarded to George Mvaard in 

 the employ of Mr. Aldharo, of tilting. The winner 

 appropriately used Bentali's plough. At the annual 

 dinner, the Chairman said they were under great obliga- 

 tions to Mr. Mechi for the good he had done to 

 agriculture by working away at all kinds of improve- 

 merits, as he had done at Tiptree Hall. There could be 

 no doubt that it had been a great benefit to agriculture, 

 whatever the result had been to Mr. Mechi himself 

 and he begged to propose that gentleman's good health.—! 

 Mr. Mechi acknowledged the toast, and also thanked the 

 chairman for his commiseration. He had no hope that 

 agriculturists generally would ever believe that he was 

 farming at a profit, and he doubted if many of them 

 wonld admit, after they were convinced, that drainage 

 irrigation, steam-power, and many other things, which 

 involved a large amount of capital were really essential 

 to profit. He did not expect these things to be generally 

 admitted in this generation. As far as his own farming 

 was concerned he felt that u Othello's occupation" was 

 almost gone. When he sowed the first guano in that 

 neighbourhood people smiled and said it was a mere 

 peppering thejsoil and could do no good: now he constantly 

 met his neighbours' waggons with it. (Hear, hear.) His 

 steam-engine agaiu was considered most ridiculous ; but 

 now steam-engines were as common as Blackberries. 

 Formerly there was a strong belief in this locality that 

 deep cultivation was injurious; but there had been a 

 great change in that respect also, though he was not 

 satisfied that the prejudice was altogether done away 

 with. It was impossible to read the reports from dif- 

 ferent districts and not see the improved tone of the 

 agricultural mind in this respect, and that those things 

 which he (Mr. Mechi) did years ago, and about which 

 their Chairman had such serious doubts on the score of. 

 profit, were now being carried into practice. It was 

 time something should be done to remove from the 

 agriculturists of the country the disgrace of not being 

 able to feed their own population, when they had millions 

 of acres not half farmed. He must exempt the farmers 

 of this neighbourhood, who took a high rank as prac- 

 tical agriculturists ; but the country generally could not 

 be judged of by the neighbourhood of Witham. It was 

 impossible to travel from one end of the kingdom to the 

 other without seeing that bad farming was the rule, and 

 high or good farming the exception ; and therefore he 

 felt that the application of the stimulus of censure was 

 imperatively called for, until a more satisfactory state 

 of things should be brought about. He agreed in what 

 had been said as to the great usefulness of this Society 

 in regard to the labourers. The improvement of their 

 cottages was a most important question ; and he thought 

 they might lay great blame upon the state of the law. 

 When the temptation to landed proprietors to get rid of 

 cottages from their estates, in order, he might say, to 

 impose the population upon an adjoining parish, should 

 be done away with by enlarging the area of settlement, 

 he believed a most beneficial eifect would be produced. 

 Already that had been partially the case. It was very 

 easy to come to sound conclusions upon the subject ; 

 every 100 acres of land required stabling for four horses, 

 and ought to have accommodation for at least four 

 labourers ; but the demand caused by the increase of 

 population and the nou-building of cottages often led 

 sordid men to divide what would otherwise be good 

 dwellings, and so forced families into most indecent 

 limits. The existing state of things enabled men to do 

 that ; but if there was a sufficiency of proper cottages 

 the inducement would be done away with. The question 

 affected all : and it was very desirable that upon 

 these occasions public opinion should be brought to 

 bear upon it : the more moral the labouring popu- 

 lation were the better it would be for employers and 

 society generally ; and there could be no doubt that the 

 system of over-crowding produced disease, which often 

 < ntailed a heavy charge upon the poor-rates. In con- 

 clusion, be begged to assure Mr. Bullock that he was 

 now reaping a very good return for his improvements. 

 This year he could not help making a good profit, and 

 he was satisfied that it cost many of his neighbours a 

 higher rate to produce corn than himself, simply 

 because their landlords had omitted to make those im- 

 provements which few practical men would now deny to 

 be remunerative. Who would dispute that the interest 

 upon drainage was more than paid in a crop? (Hear.) 

 And in the same way good buildings, steam-engines, and 

 improved implements were ail remunerative. Then 

 there was putting in a proper quantity of seed, which 

 was a very important point, because not only was there 

 a large quantity of corn wasted by being sown in 

 excess, but the injury to the crop was more than equal 

 to the rent. He often asked how they knew they were 

 sowing the proper quantity, and whether they had ever 

 tried less \ Many said they had never done so, and did 

 not want to try it ; and it was this pig-headedness on the 

 part of agriculturists which he wished to remove ; as he 

 was satisfied unless they tested the proper quantity of seed 

 upon particular soils, and the powers of the manures 

 they applied, it was impossible to arrive at any sound 

 conclusion. He felt perfectly comfortable about Ins 

 own improvements, and he hoped his neighbours would 

 cease to feel for him so much as they had done. 

 (Laughter.) He believed the pity was often mutual, 

 and that he pitied others as much as they pitied him ; 

 but time melted everything down, and the next genera- 

 tion would not differ so widely upon these subjects as it 

 had been his lot to do with many of his brother farmers. 





